Harrow



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. U. W. POST.

HARROW.

No. 363,762. Patented May 24, 1887.

(No Model.)

O. W. POST.

HARRO-W. I Patented May 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

OHARLES 7. POST, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

YHARROWQ SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 363,762, dated May 24, 1887.

(No model.)

To all-whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES W. POST, a citizen of the United States, residing in Springfield, county of Sangamon, and State of Illi- 1101s, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harrows, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of harrows in which the teeth are made adj ust-able to various angles relative to the surface of the ground.

Prior to my invention harrows have been constructed in which the teeth were adjustable by means of a. hand lever, which also served to maintain the teeth rigid in their adjusted position as against the strain in either a forward or backward direction, and hence in dragging such harrows from place to place, when they are not designed to operate on the ground,the lever must necessarily be actuated in such case, in order to incline the teeth rearwardly, so that they may pass more freely over the ground. In addition to this, in none of the priorconstructions can theteeth be folded up within the compass of their supportingframe when the harrow is prepared for ship ment, and in practice it is well known that the cost of transporting such harrows is greatly increased by the liability of their projecting teeth cutting, scratching, and otherwise injuring other articles in transportation therewith, so mueh so that railroads charge double first-class freight in cases where the teeth project. The objection is chiefly due to the rigid connection between the tooth-bars and the adjusting side bar actuated by the lever.

The prime object of this invention isto provide a harrow in which, when folded for shipment, the teeth will fold within the compass of the harrows frame, whereby injury to the teeth during transportation may be avoided.

Another object is to provide such a connection between the tooth-bars and the adjusting side bar that the teeth, while in aworking position,will be rigid against strain in one direction only.

Further objects are to provide such a connection between the tooth-bars and the adjustingbar that when the latter has reached the limit of its adjustment the toothbar is free to have a further rotation onits own axis independent of said adj Listing-bar, whereby when the harrow is folded for shipment the teeth thereof may fold and lie within the compass of the harrow-frame, and to provide certain details of construction essential to the proper carrying out of my invention, hereinafter fully described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure lrepresents a perspective view of a harrow embodying my invention, with .the parts in position ready for use; Fig. 2, asimilar view showing the harrow folded for shipment or transportation; Fig. 3, an enlarged detail side elevation of aportion thereof, more clearly showing the actuating-lever, the adj usting side bar, and the connection between said bar and the tooth-bars; Fig. 4, a detail section thereof on the line w 00 of said figure; Fig. 5,another detail section on liney yof Fig. 4, showing an inside view of the connection between the adjusting and tooth bars; Fig. 6, detail views of the pivoting-connection between the tooth and strengthening side bars.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings, A indicates the usual tooth-bars of a harrow,in which are secured in any suitable manner and in any desired number and form the usual teeth, which tooth bars or beams are pivoted at either end thereof to the side bars, B and O, the former one of which is preferably composed of iron perforated at suitable intervals to receive the studjournals a, provided on a suitable casting, D, bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the ends of the beams, which casting also has an upwardly-projecting arm, I), on the end of which is also provided a lug or projection, c, for the purpose of limiting the oscillatory movement of the said beams on theirjournals, for the purpose hereinafter described.

The side bar, 0, to which the opposite ends of the tooth beams or bars are secured, is preferably composed of wood, to the under side of 4 which beam are secured a series of brackets or hangers, E, corresponding in number'to and through which the beams project and are suitably journaled. These brackets may be of any suitable form or construction that will permit a rotation of the tooth-beams therein without permitting an endwise or lateral movement; but I prefer to construct this bracket in the manner shown in Fig. 6, in which the bracket is shown as composed of two parts, the part (I of which being bolted to the side bar, 0, and having the bearing portion orjournal part thereof formed in the shape of a semicircle, while the other part,,e, thereof is also formed in the shape of a semicircle, and constitutes a cap for the other part, to which it is secured by the bolts passing through the lugs f f on either side thereof, so that when placed together the two parts will form a circular bearing or journal of a slightly greater diameter than the tooth-beams, which are preferably square in cross-section.

Suitably countersunk in the beams, to prevent a lateral shifting thereof, are a series of segments, 9 g, the inner sides of which are flat to conform to the squared surface of the beam, but the outer sidesof which are on the arc of a circle consisting of a quadrant thereof, so that when four of them are placed one on each face of the beam they form an exact circle and of a diameter slightly greater than that of the bracket E,which seats in asuit-able groove formed on the curved face of these segments, which construction, while it permits a rotation of the beams within the hangers or brackets, at the same time prevents any lateral movement between these parts. In addition to this, such a connection between the side bar and tooth-beams serves to strengthen the harrow against any strain due to the lagging of one side thereof during the practical operation of the harrow.

In order to adjust the teeth to any desired position or angle relative to the ground, I have provided a series of sector-plates, F, (more clearly shown in Fig. 3,) pivoted on the stud-bolts or journals a of the castings D, between the said castings and the side bar, B, the said sector being of any desired length and having the ends thereof turned up, as shown at h and h, to limit the movement of the lug or projection c on said casting,which projects at right angles over the concentric portion of the said sector-plate and into the path of the said ends h h. is pivotally secured an adjusting-bar, G, extending the entire length of the harrow parallel with and in the plane a little above the pivoting side bar, B. This adjusting-bar is actuated by a hand-lever, H, common to this class of harrows, the spring-pawl of which engages the segment rack or gear I, for the purpose of maintaining the said lever and bar in any adjusted position, which said segmentrack is rigidly secured at either end thereof to the pivoting side bar, 13, to which also is pivotally secured a hand-lever, H.

The ends or shoulders h of the sector-plates are preferably forward of the lug or projection 0 in the line of travel of the harrow, and hence,

To the former one of these ends as the'resistance to the pivoted tooth is at the bottom or ground end thereof, thislug or projection c on the casting secured to the toothbeam would at all times when the tooth is under strain press closely against the said shoulder h. Hence it is only necessary to change the position of the shoulder by actuating the adjusting-bar in order to give the tooth any desired angle or inclination.

It will also be observed that the pivots of the sector-plates and the hand-lever are coincident, so that as the adj listing-bar. is actuated it rises and falls or approaches and recedes from the pivoting side bar, to which it is pivotally connected by this series of traveling parallel pivots; but while the tooth is held rigid and adjustable as against any strain in the forward direction, if the draft were changed to the rear end of the harrow, the teeth,without the necessity of altering the position of the hand-lever, would incline sufficiently to the rear not to engage or draw into the ground, in which position the teeth are sometimes set to work-for instance, in running over young corn.

A still more important result of the connection just described is that by reason of the independent rotation of the tooth-beams, or, rather, the rotation they are capable of in addition to that imparted to them by the extreme adjustment of the adjusting-bar, the said teeth are capable of being folded into a horizontal position, and in such manner that their points will come entirely within the compass of the tooth-beams and barrow-frame, so that when the harrow is packed for shipment the points of the teeth will be effectually protected and removed from danger of injury or fracture thereof, or of their injuring other articles in transportation with them by cutting,scratching, or otherwise, which latter is the prime objection to the prior constructions, in which such a disposition of the teeth cannot be effected, owing to the adjustment of the teeth being limited to the extreme adjustment of the adjusting-bar.

I may here add that the side bar, while forming a connection between and maintaining the tooth-bars in their relative positions, also holds the teeth to their work and pre vents their rising over and shirking in hard ground.

The general operation of these adjustable harrows is now so well known that I do not deem it necessary to enter into details further than has been done in order to set forth the advantages of the construction and operation of my improvements.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. In a harrow, the tooth-bars, the pivoting side bar thereof, the adj usting-bar, and a sector-plate between said tooth and adjusting bars and pivoted on the axis of the former, in combination with a stud or shoulder 011 the vided with grooves 0n the circular or working faces thereof, in combination with the side bar, (J, and a series of brackets or hangers, E, secured thereto, corresponding in number with and adapted to work in the groove on the faces of said quadrant-plates when in position on the tooth-beams, substantially as described.

CHARLES W. POST. Witnesses:

WILL R. OMOHUNDRO,

W. W. ELLIOTT. 

